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Venezuela's Refugee Crisis

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Venezuela's Refugee Crisis VENEZUELA’S REFUGEE CRISIS Trinidad &TobagoTrinidad &Tobago January 2020 COUNTRY REPORT Trinidad & Tobago, a country bordering the epicenter of the Venezuela refugee crisis continues to struggle with its coordination efforts due to the absence of a domestic legislation for refugees and asylum seekers. A field team was deployed on January 2019 to assess and evaluate the ongoing response activities taken at country level. Author: Cristina Valencia Country Report: Trinidad & Tobago 1 Executive Summary As part of the William R. Rhodes Global Advisors (WRRGA) commitment in the response to the ongoing Venezuelan Refugee Crisis, a mission team was sent on January 19, 2020 to assess and support the current activities that are being implemented (by both local and international organizations) to address the existing Venezuelan refugee needs in Trinidad & Tobago. In early 2015, the Americas region began to experience a surge in migration flows due in large part to the rise of people emigrating from Venezuela in response to the country’s faltering economy. Only seven nautical miles from the coast of Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago is currently one of the largest migrant receiving countries in the Caribbean. Although reported estimates of Venezuelan refugees residing in the nation vary between 15,000 and 40,000, the island has not had such numbers of inward migration in its modern history, therefore legal frameworks and institutional capacity to cope with the situation are lacking. On 26 July, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago began issuing registration cards to Venezuelans who had registered in the two-week exercise that was conducted from 30 May to 14 June 2019 in which approximately 16,523 were registered. The registration cards will allow Venezuelans to work legally for six months, after which a renewal for another six months can be granted. Card-holders will have legal access to employment, education and healthcare services. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), operating under its mandate, continues to work in conducting refugee status determination (RSD) although the government does not recognize their registration mechanism as being official. Following a request by the UN Secretary-General to UNHCR and IOM in 2018, a Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform (R4V) was established to lead and coordinate the response to refugees and migrants from Venezuela. The R4V has made tremendous strides in the last year in identifying areas of intervention that need immediate attention and getting organizations to respond to them. Finally, the role of the private sector and local diaspora will be critical in leading diversification into sectors such as medical and other higher-education sectors, agriculture and food processing, renewable energy and ecotourism. Moreover, it is these companies that will and should help coordinate the employment and remuneration of Venezuelan refugees. January, 2020 Country Report: Trinidad & Tobago 2 Acknowledgment We would like to thank the Living Waters Community (LWC) for the planning and coordination of our trip and for giving us a very insightful information of the situation in Trinidad & Tobago. LWC has been one of the pioneering organizations in the coordination and registration of Venezuelan Refugees and we will continue to support their work at local level. We would also like to thank Ron Harford, former chairman of Republic Bank and Kyffin Simpson, chairman of the Simpson Group for their continuous support and interest in the ongoing Venezuela refugee crisis January, 2020 Country Report: Trinidad & Tobago 3 Table of Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 1 List of figures .............................................................................................................................. 5 List of tables ............................................................................................................................... 6 List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. 7 Recommendations .................................................................................................................. 8 High Priority (Targets for the next 90 days) ................................................................................................... 8 Medium Priority (Targets for the next180 days) ........................................................................................... 9 Background ............................................................................................................................ 10 Trinidad & Tobago ........................................................................................................................................ 10 Key Definitions ......................................................................................................................... 12 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 13 Situation at the start of the mission (January 19th, 2020) ............................................................ 13 Coordination of the Response ........................................................................................................ 16 The Ministry of National Security ................................................................................................................. 16 The UNHCR and other Non-Governmental Organizations ...................................................................... 17 The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) ............................................................................ 19 Key Performance Indicators for Venezuelan Refugee Coordination ........................................ 20 Objectives ............................................................................................................................... 22 Field Team ............................................................................................................................... 23 Activities and Findings ........................................................................................................... 24 Context .............................................................................................................................................. 24 Priority Programmes .......................................................................................................................... 30 Direct Emergency Response ....................................................................................................................... 30 Protection Response .................................................................................................................................... 32 Socio-Economic & Cultural Integration ..................................................................................................... 33 Capacitation of Host government ............................................................................................................. 34 Healthcare .................................................................................................................................................... 34 References .............................................................................................................................. 37 Annexes ................................................................................................................................... 39 A. Main Actors/Collaborators/NGO’s ......................................................................................... 39 B. Framework of Coordination ..................................................................................................... 39 January, 2020 Country Report: Trinidad & Tobago 4 C. Mission Schedule ...................................................................................................................... 40 D. Government Phase Approach Policy (2014) ......................................................................... 41 January, 2020 Country Report: Trinidad & Tobago 5 List of figures FIGURE 1: PERSONS OF CONCERN REGISTERED WITH UNHCR IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO BY LEGAL STATUS, DECEMBER 31 2019 ....................................................................................................................................... 13 FIGURE 2: PERSONS OF CONCERN REGISTERED WITH UNHCR IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO BY AGE COHORT, DECEMBER 31 2019 ....................................................................................................................................... 14 FIGURE 3: PERSONS OF CONCERN REGISTERED WITH UNHCR IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO BY SEX, DECEMBER 31 2019 ....................................................................................................................................... 14 FIGURE 4: PERSONS OF CONCERN REGISTERED WITH UNHCR IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO BY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN, DECEMBER 31 2019 ........................................................................................................................ 15 FIGURE 5: CUMULATIVE NUMBER OF PERSONS OF CONCERN REGISTERED WITH UNHCR IN TRINIDAD AND UNTIL DECEMBER 31 2019 ............................................................................................................................. 16 FIGURE 6: RECEPTION,
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